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Druid tactic
= Basics = Tips *Shapeshifting will release you from Entangled Roots, Frost Nova, and other spells that pin you. *As of WoW 1.4, shapeshifting will release you from Polymorph. *Do not cast Wrath, Starfire or any spell to deal damage with casting time once close combat has started, as you'll be getting hit and raising the delay (a.k.a. lowering DPS). *If you are Tauren, and get into trouble, use Stomp. This can give you enough time to run, or start a Healing Touch on yourself. *Tie Rejuvenation and Regrowth to macros that automatically cast on yourself. *Cast your spells in "bursts". Your mana will not regenerate for 5 seconds after you cast a spell, regardless of whether or not you are in combat. It is more mana-effectient to cast several spells at the same time and then wait for your mana to regenerate than to cast single spells at various times during a fight. *Keep in mind that mana will regenerate while you are in a form. *Be prepared. Mark of the Wild and Thorns should be on all the time. *Thorns contributes to aggro and therefore should not be cast on cloth wearing classes. The same is true of druids acting as the main healer for a party. This makes it easier for the tank to draw the aggro away. *Be prepared. Keep a supply of various Alchemy potions and learn when you benefit from which. Attributes There is no set of attributes that is perfect for every situation. A druid can do most things and profit from all attributes. The best choice obviously is the one that enhances your play style. *Each point of Strength is worth 2 points of attack power. 14 points of attack power result in 1 addtional DPS. *Each point of Agility increases armor by 2, dodge and critical hit by 0.05%. Also increases Attack Power in cat form by +1 per point of Agility. *Each point of Stamina is worth 10 health. *Each point of Intellect gives 15 mana and increases your chance for a critical spell .01% (every 100 int = +1% critical chance). *Each point of Spirit increases your health and mana regeneration. About 5 points of Spirit gives 1 mana per second in regeneration. Spells and Abilities *Bash *Bear Form This form essentially turns the Druid into a Warrior. It gives a large Armor and HP bonus in addition to an attack power bonus. *Cat Form Cat form's abilities mirror that of a Rouge. The Druid gains the ability to stealth and several abilities that greatly increase dps. *Challenging Roar *Claw *Demoralizing Roar *Dire Bear Form *Feral Charge *Healing Touch *Hurricane *Moonfire Moonfire is a great spell because it excels in two areas. The first is mana efficiency. Hitting a target with Moonfire will do a lot of damage over time for not too much mana. It is usually a good idea cast Moonfire on an enemy sometime during the beginning of a fight, to make sure all of the damage occurs. The second area Moonfire is great in is damage per second. Because the spell has no cooldown and does part of it's damage on the initial cast, you can rack up quite a bit of damage by simply casting it over and over on a target. The downside to doing this is that the mana efficiency will plummet. You can easily drain your mana by spamming Moonfire. Many people consider it a beginner's strategy, but there are times when mana efficiency matters much less than raw damage per second. Moonfire is essentially two spells in one and a good druid will know when to use which version of it. *Ravage *Regrowth Regrowth does a small, initial heal plus an equal amount over a few seconds. This is best used when you or a party member has dropped a little in health and will probably take a good bit more damage. This gives them an immediate boost to 90% or so HP and will keep their HP up for a while after even if they take a lot of damage. *Rejuvenation This instant cast spell heals a target over several seconds. *Shred *Starfire *Thorns *Tiger's Fury Using Tiger's Fury won't make you visible. *Travel Form This form has a two-fold benefit. The first being that you get a 40% speed boost at level 30, ten levels ahead of a mount. The other being a great get away move. Since its instant cast you can start running while casting it. You can also lay down a Rejuvenation on yourself before shifting. *Wrath Talents The Druids Shape General *Attributes work just the same in feral form. *Weapon skill, damage, speed and chance on hit effects are irrelevant and have no effect in beast form. This includes temporary and permanent enchantments. Omen of Clarity now reduces the cost of the next rage/energy using ability to 0 (in addition to its effect on mana in caster form). *Look for weapon and offhand items that increase attributes or have other effects than chance on hit. *DPS is solely based on your attributes and form. *You will not receive skill advancement in any weapon proficiencies in beast form. *You will receive skill advancement in defense. *You will not be able to cast spells while in beast form. However current spells continue to work, eg Regrowth or Nature's Grasp. *Each form has a number of abilities and passive enhancements. (Dire) Bear Form Know how much mana you need for Bear form. If you have just used Entangled Roots before shapeshifting, cast Enrage to get enough Rage to cast Demoralizing Roar. Enrage will also give you enough Rage to cast Maul. Enrage is also very useful against players and monsters that primarily cast spells on you because the spells go right through armor anyway. Bear Form with good Stamina typically allows to engage and kill mobs up to 4 levels above you, albeit slowly. In Bear Form you receive *Attack power *An extra 180% of armor rating from items for a total of 280%. Armor rating from enchantments and agility is not multiplied. *Hit points (depending on level). In Dire Bear Form you receive *Attack power *An extra 360% of armor rating from items for a total of 460%. Armor rating from enchantments and agility is not multiplied. *Hit points (depending on level). Cat Form Cat form is most useful when used to initiate combat because you can do a lot of damage quickly, but it takes 10 seconds to fully recharge your energy. With full energy, prowl up to your target from behind and use either (1) Pounce and then Shred (for increased combo points), or (2) Tiger's Fury and Ravage (for maximum damage). Follow up with any combination of attacks that give combo points. Use Rip once you have accumulated 3 or 4 combo points (a 5 point Rip is usually wasted because the monster dies before much of the damage takes effect). For stronger mobs, at this point you should return to caster form and heal if low on health. Also, it is sometimes wise to cast Moonfire and then Entangling Roots so that you can simply stand back and let the damage over time debuffs tick down. Against weaker enemies, a Rip can be followed by Tiger's Fury and a Claw or two, which should quickly drain their remaining health. If you get in trouble and you're not sure if you can kill the monster before it kills you, don't try to heal yourself. It will take too much time. Instead, pop into caster form and cast Moonfire a few times to finish it off. An alternative use of Cat form is to initiate a fight in caster form with Starfire and Moonfire (or a Root-Wrath-Moonfire-Wrath sequence), cast Rejuvenation on yourself, and then shift to Cat form to melee. This conserves mana while keeping your health high. It is usually possible to solo an even level mob and end with 75% or more of both health and mana using this tactic. In Cat Form you receive *Attack power Travel Form Travel Form increases movement speed by 40%. Aquatic Form Aquatic Form allows to breathe under water indefinitely. Movement speed while swimming is increased by 50%, however you will not be faster than a character on land. Also be warned that Hunter pets are actually faster than you are in water. Feral Combat and the Elder Game There has been a lot of discussion about the role of the druid in the end game. Druids in the top-tier instances will primarily be called upon as healers and a lot of people expect druids to spec Restoration accordingly. This is similar to the limitations that most classes face in the high end instances (being boxed into a single role that is). Ultimately the choice of build is yours but don't expect to get away with hiding your talent tree (because the lack of the Innervate talent will be a dead giveaway). The good news is that recent patch changes have given druids better damage (in cat form) and much better armor (in dire bear form). While a druid in cat form is not supposed to have the same DPS as a similarly-leveled rogue, druids have received an uplift on DPS in recent patches, including the addition of a direct-damage finishing move. Bear form has been provide with an even stronger buff: Bear Form armor bonus increased from 65% to 180% and Dire Bear Form increased from 125% to 360%. We are now seeing druids in dire bear form with over 10,000 armor points, higher than any warrior even with a full end-game kit. So why don't you see druids as rogues or tanks in high-level instances? Because the reality is that the druid forms lack the full talent trees that make rogues and warriors so effective at what they do. Tanking, for example, is about more than just taking hits. It is about grabbing aggro by the throat and not letting go if it no matter what the mage unleashes. It is about being able to parry and block to minimize damage. It is about talents that druids can't emulate. In spite of this, druids are much desired in high end instances. What makes a druid so valuable is their emergency management ability. So, while you will not be called upon as a primary tank or damage-dealer, the joy of a druid is that if the main tank(s) go down you can get out there and take damage with the best of them and taunt mobs off the priest at least for a short while. If the damage-dealers are Feared and running for their lives, you can spam Moonfire or hit cat form and keep things going for a while. Druids also possess 3 highly desired abilities: *Innervate to regenerate mana for yourself or a party member quickly during a long fight *Mark of the Wild to provide what is arguably the best buff in the game *Combat resurrection whle other classes can only resurrect outside of combat Strong healing abilities plus the ability to jump into any gap in your party's armor makes the druid a valued part of the team. Farming solo, druids are even more reliant on their forms and versatility. Many druids carry around multiple sets of armor, depending on form, to get the best stats for what they're doing. Outside of an instance, a druid is just as likely to be wearing his or her feral set (focusing on strength/stamina and to a lesser extent agility) as a mana set (intellect/stamina/spirit). = PvE = General PvE or Player vs Environment is the art of killing NPCs. The Lone Wolf Druids work well as a soloing class. Pull the enemy creature with a Wrath spell to draw them away from other creatures that would gang up on you. Learn the maximum distance of your Wrath spell, and be in the habit of casting from there. While the Wrath bolt is still traveling to the enemy, cast Moonfire. Follow this with Entangling Roots. Move back to the limit of your Wrath spell and repeat. You should be burning through your mana until you have just enough to switch to Bear form. If you are patient, you can tackle powerful creatures in this manner without endangering yourself. If you run out of mana while soloing a creature, Entangling Roots can save your life. Root the creature and then just stand back and wait for your mana to regenerate. Once you have enough mana, cast Entangling Roots again. If it is not resisted or immediately removed, heal yourself. Otherwise cast it again. Repeat the process. Entangling Roots does a small amount of damage. When you feel comfortable with your health vs the creatures health, move up and start hitting it with melee or save up mana for a Moonfire. You shouldn't have too much trouble finishing it off. Note: This trick might not work if your spirit is very low. Train up First Aid for healing between fights in order to save mana and maintain the highest efficiency. The Party Druid Usually you will be assigned a certain role in a group. If not, it is your job to decide how to best aid your group. But even when you are the maintank keep an eye open for an emergency that requires your other talents. *Buffer Parties love Druids for their buffs - Mark of the Wild and Thorns. This will always be an additional role you have to fill, make sure that you and your party are buffed. *Damage Dealer You can either be a melee DD with Cat Form or a ranged DD with spells. *Tank They can also take on the role of the tank or Offtank - Bear Form required. *Healer In parties the Druid will often find himself in the role of the Healer. Whatever you do, keep a mana reserve for that emergency heal that will save your group. While you can be primary healer in a group, remember that you are always a backup healer. As the primary healer, Druids have three disadvantages over a Priest: ** The lack of an effective fast heal (i.e. Flash Heal). Regrowth is the druid equivelent, but because it is part straight heal and part heal over time, you will end up with horrible mana effeciency if you are forced to chain cast it on a party member. Keep this in mind and try to use Healing Touch wheneven possible. ** Druids have a utility ressurection spell. It is very useful in some situations. It can be used in combat, which means that with some coordination you can recover from a wipe. It also ressurects the target with much more health and mana and casts much faster than other ressurect spells. However, because it has a 30-minute cooldown, it cannot be used as the main ressurect spell. If two people die, you can only bring one back to life. ** Healing draws aggro to you. If you heal too much, or if you tank fails to get the attention of all the monsters, something will come after you. There are two ways of dealing with this and both required you to give up your ability to heal temporarily. The first is to switch into Bear form. This will allow you to soak up the damage from the monster(s) attacking you until your party deals with it. Second, you can switch into Cat form and use the Cower ability, which lowers the amount of threat towards a single target. Make sure your tank knows that you do not have a Fade-type ability that will allow you to escape aggro. In multiple monster situations, the tank should use an AoE ability (such as Demoralizing Shout or a Magma Totem), to attract all monsters' attention at the beginning of the fight. A third way of dealing with aggro is to use Entangling Roots on the monster and back away, but you cannot use the spell indoors (most instances). =PvP= General Druids are very versatile in combat and can therefore approach a fight in many difference ways. Healing is very tricky against a smart opponent or a class with spell interrupts. Know whether your opponent is melee or ranged. If melee, such as Warriors and Paladins, you can toy with them using the pull procedure outlined in Basic Tactics. If ranged, like spell casters and Hunters, cast Stomp, Moonfire, and then Entangling Roots. When your opponent has a few hits on you, Stomp if you have one left, Regrowth, Moonfire, switch to Bear form, profit. Spells and Tactics *Rooting: Entangling Root is essential both for keeping melee opponents at bay and making casters stay put so that you can attack them in Bear or Cat form. Be aware that there are many items and abilities that break root. If you rely too much on the spell, it will get you in trouble. *Kiting: Travel form (or Feline Swiftness) can be used to put distance between you and your enemy, which can be very useful while they are affected by DOTs (i.e. Moonfire, Rip). You can also use this tactic to run far enough away from them that they cannot catch up before you can get a heal off. *Talent Spells: **Nature's Grasp: (Tier 1 Balance) Gives a chance that when you are hit, the attacker will be affected by Entangling Roots. A very nice ability to have in your arsenal. It can mean the difference between life and death in combat. When playing against a melee class, cast Nature's Grasp. When it goes off, take a few paces back and heal yourself or run to your maximum range and start nuking. **Nature's Swiftness: (Tier 5 Restoration) Your next nature spell is instant cast. This is the only way you can get off a large heal without the risk of being interrupted. If you get it, it will likely save your life many times. **Feral Charge: (Tier 3 Feral) In bear form, you charge up to the target and interrupt any spell being cast. The ability to interrupt a spell at range is very useful. Feral Charge can also be used to get up to melee range when you are slowed or very far from your target. **Moonkin Form: (Tier 7 Balance) In Moonkin Form, you have the same armor as Dire Bear (Plate equivalent, 360% increase), and you have an increased 3% chance to critical with spells. Since you take MUCH less damage in this form, you can cast at close-range, and melee and wipe out mobs much quicker than normal. While soloing it's also not difficult to switch out and heal either, as shapeshifting is of small mana cost. Feel free to melee with your weapon as well, after all you do have Plate Armor in Moonkin Form. **Omen of Clarity: (Tier 3 Balance) If you plan on melee tactics in Moonkin Form, this talent is very good, as you have a chance on successful melee attack of having your next spell cost no mana at all. **Reflection: (Tier 3 Restoration) Even those who are Balance might want to consdier the 38/0/13 build, in which they have 15% mana regeneration while casting. For the Balance Druid that focuses on casting, this is just as important as having Omen of Clarity. *Healing. Things to remember: **Don't wait until the last moment to heal. Most players will be waiting for the right opportunity to use a big finishing move while you are low on health. Heal at every opportunity you get. You should not be defeated until you run completely out of mana, and even then you might be able to pull off a win. **Regrowth and Rejuvination at the same time will only cost you two seconds to cast and will continue to heal you well through the fight. **Regrowth is faster than Healing Touch. Use Regrowth in tight situations when you need a heal right away. Use Healing Touch when you actually have a few seconds to spare. Healing Touch's effect is more immediate and the spell is more mana effecient. **Healing Spells are generally more mana effecient than damage spells. *Debuff Removal: Rogues and Warlocks will use a lot of poisons and curses on you. It is generally a good idea to remove them as soon as you see them. Cure Poison and Remove Curse are cheap compared to many of the effects they remove. Class by Class Druid *You can use Hibernate on other druids while they are in an animal form, as they are considered beasts. *Druid vs Druid is usually a really long fight. Therefore Spirit is a very important attribute to have. *Collecting combo points in Cat Form early for a quick finishing move (much) later can be the key to victory. *Try to stun your opponent when he's low on health, either by Bash, Feral Charge, Improved Starfire or Hibernate. Then proceed to Starfire + Moonfire. Mage Key Concepts: *Mages have a spell called Counterspell. It will interrupt any spell you're casting and prevent you from casting any spell from that tree (Nature or Arcane) for 10 seconds. Counterspell has a 30-second cooldown. Most commonly they will use this when you try to heal at a critical moment. **Counters: (1) Try to get them to Counterspell your Starfire, allowing you to heal. (2) Feign healing by starting to use your hearthstone in hopes that they use up their Counterspell on it. (3) Switch into Travel Form and run from the mage until the effect is gone. (4) Forget healing and try to kill them with spells or feral form. *Entangling Roots is automatically broken when a Mage uses Blink (short teleport spell). *You cannot be polymorphed while in any animal form and if polymorphed you can easilty shapeshift out of it. *Mages have some of the most mana-efficient damage spells, but their most mana-efficient spell (Fireball, 1.97 damage per mana) is still less efficient than our healing spells (Healing Touch, 2.6 health per mana). At first glance it looks like you could easily win against a mage simply by healing until he is out of mana and then killing him, but this is not so. Mages generally have larger mana pools than Druids, so they can afford to be less mana-efficient. *Farie Fire can cut off a large chunk of a Mage's already lacking cloth armor. Make sure you cast it if you plan on using melee attacks against him. *It can be benifical to approach the Mage in caster form. If he uses Frost Nova when you get close, you can instantly switch into Bear or Cat form (breaking the root) and attack. *Don't let yourself get too low on health. Mages have an array of instant cast or fast casting time spells that can drain your life very quickly. *Keep in mind that the Mage's Mana Shield is extremely mana inefficient. It can absorb up to 570 damage (at maximum rank) at the cost of up to 1280 mana. If this were a healing spell it would have a mana efficiency of 0.44 health per mana! Hunter *Use Root or Hibernate to switch off hunters' pets. *There is a 3-yard zone in which a hunter cannot attack you. It is between 5 yards (melee maximum) and 8 yards (ranged minimum). If you root him and stand within this zone, you can heal or nuke without being attacked (except by the pet of course). *Hunters have three "sting" attacks. These are poisons that can be removed with Cure Poison or Abolish Poison. #Serpent Sting: A moderate DPS, high mana efficiency DOT that lasts 15 seconds. #Viper's Sting: Drains a good chunk of your mana over 8 seconds. #Scorpid Sting: A debuff that lowers your strength and agility by a good amount (roughly 25-30% of total) for 20 seconds. *Be careful to use any beast form. A Hunter can fear animals and you count as one. Once you're feared theres nothing you can do but wait. With the 1.7 patch Druids will be able to shift out of feral forms even when feared, and then use the PvP trinket to remove the effect. If you have a way to get rage on shifting to Dire Bear Form and Feral Charge this is an option to stop a running Hunter, just be sure to shift out again quickly. *Barkskin allows you to cast while the Hunter's pet is chewing on you. Paladin *A Paladin can regenerate mana faster than a Druid can do damage. *If you still want to try start with Moonfire, Faerie Fire and Dire Bear Form. At half health shift out, use Barkskin, Regrowth, Moonfire, shift back. Should he ever get to about 20% health then use Bash and spam Moonfire. If you are Tauren use Warstomp once the first stun is gone. Otherwise repeat until you get bored. Priest * Rogue *Just like Hunters there is a range at which Rogues cannot attack. If you stand in this range the Rogue cannot hit you. *Use Faerie Fire to ensure the Rogue doesn't perform Vanish. *Moonfire is great for DoT when they might try and bandage after a stun. *Depending on your talents there are various ways to respond to an ambush. A quick Barkskin gives you bearlike mitigation helping you survive the incomming finishing move. With Nature's Swiftness, which you may and should have precast, respond by either healing with Healing Touch or Regrowth immediately. Improved Regrowth helps greatly. Without Nature's Swiftness you need to get some distance between you and the Rogue first. This is best achieved with shifting to Travel Form, possibly supported by a quick Nature's Grasp. *With a feral setup (lots of hitpoints) be sure to have Thorns and Regrowth active. Shift to bear and attack. Use Demoralizing Roar to reduce the incoming damage further. The talents Furor and Feral Charge allow you a quick start into melee. If Frenzied Regeneration is not enough and you need to shift out to heal, Bash (Improved Bash helps). Again, Nature's Grasp allows you to be back in bear before the Rogue can even move. Consider using Barkskin before shifting back. Fun thing to have a Rogue kill himself on your Thorns. *With a caster setup (lots of mana) keep your distance by using either Travel Form, Entangling Roots or Nature's Grasp. A good Rogue will use Sprint to catch up to you, be careful. Again, Barkskin helps you. When the Rogue is rooted start with a Starfire followed by a quick Moonfire - Entangling Roots probably last longer that way. Repeat as necessary. Watch out for movement reducing poisons! *Both tactics can be combined to great effect. Especially if you are getting low on mana, which you will regenerate while being in Bear Form. Shaman *Shamans are similar to Druids in a way. They can be built either as Healer, Melee or Ranged DD and so you have to adjust a bit. *When ambushed by a shaman, don't try to run, you will usually not make it. Instead respond with Regrowth, Moonfire and optionally Dire Bear Form. Most Shamans deplete their mana pool quickly. *A good Shaman can remove all of Regrowth, Nature's Swiftness, Mark of the Wild, Rejuvenation and Innervate. *A good Shaman will probably drop totems once youre fighting him in melee. Destroying the totems reduces the low bear dps even further. *Unfortunately, even without mana, a Shaman can destroy Dire Bear Form in melee with windfury and a bit of luck. *Earthshock and Frostshock share the same timer. If you're earthshocked, there's your chance to run. If you're frostshocked you can try to get a heal off. *If you manage to root him, move to your maximum spell range to avoid his shocks. Considering Earthbind Totem, various means to remove roots and diminishing roots this can only be part of your strategy. Warlock Run. Okay, being the somewhat optimistic and logically-thinking gamer I am, I think that a druid, depending on his particular level of skill can easily beat a warlock. While I have no experience as a druid above Level 4, I do reckon that classes are well-balanced, and any class can truly combat any class - the individual player just has to figure it out on his own or with a friend how to beat this class. Therefore I cannot offer any advice except that an aspiring druidic warlock-killer should learn to adapt to how warlocks fight and thus counter it in his/her own special tactics. It can be done. -Tacitus Warrior *Dire bear form is an option, but most times it should be avoided, since the Warrior's superior armor reduces the already low bear form DPS even further. Also because of the contrast between bear DPS and the Warrior's DPS, you will be fighting a losing battle, even with healing. If you choose to fight in bear, cast Faerie Fire + Moonfire, then Rejuvination on yourself. At this point enter Dire Bear Form. You should save Bash until you need to heal yourself, as it will give you time to begin your cast with out risk of interruption. Then switch back to Bear form. *Because the Warrior is a melee damage dealer, the best thing to do is to stay as far away from him as possible. Begin by using Entangling Roots, or if the Warrior charges you, then use Nature's Grasp. Once a safe distance away, begin nuking with Starfire and/or Wrath until the Entangling Roots breaks. Repeat until he dies or Entangling Roots is resisted. At this point use Wrath until the fight closes to melee range, then cast Faerie Fire and Moonfire. If at this point the Warrior is still alive, cast Rejuvination and/or Regrowth to heal yourself, then enter bear form for the duration of the fight, leaving Bear only to heal. Group vs Group =Working with Other Classes= Things Druids want Non-Druids to know *If the druid is solo healing an instance, be wary of our lack of an instant cast heal/shield. Especially mages, who should warn the druid before trying an AoE spree. *Feral spec druids can solo heal well in 5 man instances with the right set of armour, however just be aware that most of our healing spells have long cast times. *For the following situation: you're a class that can ressurect and in an instance, you've just died and the group is about to wipe. The druid then casts rebirth on you with the last of his mana: DO NOT RES! This should be treated the same way as a warlocks soulstone: wait until everyone is dead and the mobs have left, then res yourself and everyone else. :) *Balance Druids have the same healing abilities as Feral Druids - so don't expect them to be able to main heal. Instead, maybe you should treat them as a Mage with Plate Armor - not only can they deal as much if not more casting damage, they die less often! Also having a druid (moonkin form) run in, barkskin, and hurricane is good in some situations, and the druid will survive MUCH longer than a mage. *Balance Druids in Moonkin Form give all casters +3% chance to crit on spells if they are in the druid's party. This is a good way of bringing up the DPS of your spellcasters. One Molten Core strategy is to put the Moonkin in a group of 4 Mages. Another is putting the Moonkin with the priests. Things Non-Druids want Druids to know =How to Kill A...= Rogue Rogues can be tough to beat if they get the opening move, because they can easily stunlock you. If you see them before they see you, immediately drop a DoT. Doing this will eliminate stealth and most of their high dps moves. (Keep in mind though, vanish can break this) Warrior Priest Warlock Mage Druid Hunter Paladin Shaman =How to Help A...= Rogue Warrior Priest Warlock Mage Druid Hunter Paladin Shaman ---- Category:Druids Category:Tactics